About About Shining WatersWho We Are Lochgelly Gala 2016Filmed by Loch of Shining Waters Splash for Cash at the Meediessupporting Benarty Fundraisers Lochgelly Xmassupporting Lochgelly Christmas Lights Gelly Lochby Shining Waters Who We Are & What We Do Loch of Shining Waters was formed and launched on 1st January 2010. The name of the project is derived from the Gelly Loch. The word Gelly is from a Gaelic word; ‘Gheallaidh‘ which loosely translated means ‘Shining Waters‘ or ‘Loch of Brightness‘. We chose this name to mark the significance of our local heritage and environment which has given the town its namesake. BackgroundBackgroundLoch of Shining Waters started as a non-profit voluntary group which was officially launched on the 1st January 2010 as a community resource site for Lochgelly, with the aim to highlight local positive and negative developments to (a) raise awareness to the wider online public, and (b) encourage local open debate online & offline. On the 17th November 2012, the group formalised the organisation by signing a constitution and selecting a board of members. By March 2014 the project was developed into a Social Enterprise so we can better serve the local community. Our work primarily deals with local community based news, transparency & accountability of elected representatives and the local authority, technical support and development, partnership work with other like-minded groups and individuals, community engagement and development, and hands-on volunteering work within the local community. ConstitutionConstitutionLoch of Shining Waters has been in operation from 1st January 2010 as a constituted voluntary organisation. In December 2013, the board members voted to dissolve the organisation in it’s current format, so that the organisation can be further developed into a Social Enterprise. a social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or the community (adapted from the definition of the Department of Trade and Industry) As of 20th March 2014, Loch of shining Waters has been incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital. Our company number is SC473024. Articles of Association: View full document (PDF) ObjectsObjectsThe organisation is established for as a social enterprise, and in particular, the objects are to: – advance citizenship and community development through the provision of a community resource site, with the aim to highlight local positive and negative developments to raise awareness to the wider online public, publishing of local news, highlighting planning applications and planning issues and promoting local democracy & transparency and encourage local open debate’ advance environmental protection and improvement by working on a variety of regeneration projects, capacity projects and raising environmental issues; advance education through the provision of media & environmental workshops for youths and other socially excluded individuals and groups; advance the arts, heritage and culture by gathering and centralising historical information about the local area, and providing consultancy and media design services; provide local non-profit groups with an online platform to help raise awareness of their groups, their social objectives, and all their latest local events, news, developments, and projects and to promote creativity and community ownership and community initiatives and the sharing of information within the community; advance such similar purposes, promote, establish, operate and/or support others in and develop any other projects, initiatives or activities for the benefit of the community as the directors may consider appropriate and to supply all such ancillary services and facilities as the directors may consider appropriate from time to time. Awards & Funding WS Awards Silver Award 2010 Web Site Awards is a definitive “peoples” award and is awarded to acknowledge talented individuals that have striven to create a web site experience for its visitors. WS Awards aim to give webmasters recognition for their dedication and hard work, regardless of knowledge and experience. Nominet Internet Award Online Public Services & Information - Runner Up 2012 Loch of Shining Waters was lucky to be a runner up in the Nominet Internet Awards 2012 for Online Public Services & Information. The Nominet awards celebrate the Internet as a force for good, as well as recognising the achievements and innovation of UK internet initiatives. Scotland Against Spin Funding 2013-2014 Scotland Against Spin is an independent alliance campaigning for the reform of the Scottish Government’s unsustainable wind energy policy. Scotland Against Spin donated funds to Loch of Shining Waters to pay for web hosting costs between 2013-2014. Google Project Shield 2017 After a successful application to Google, we were invited to join the Project Shield which aims to protect news sites and free expression from DDoS attacks on the web Better Net Award Making Cyberspace a better place 2010 The Better Net Awards is an exciting new programme from UnLtd and Nominet Trust to provide individuals with funding and support to improve and encourage the development of a safe, educational and inclusive Internet. The award comes from Nominet Trust but is managed by Scotland Unltd. UK Web Archive Archived for providing a unique snapshot into the local community 2013 Loch of Shining Waters is lucky to now be regularly archived as part of the UK Web Archive which is managed by the British Library in partnership with a range of organisations. The Archive contains sites that reflect the rich diversity of lives and interests throughout the UK. 4 Winds Trust Funding 2014 4 Winds Trust is a funding organisation for the four communities in Central Fife (Auchtertool, Lochgelly, Lumphinnans, and Cowdenbeath). Funding was received for video equipment. ICNN Independent Community News Network 2017 Loch of Shining Waters joined the Independent Community News network which is the UK representative body for the independent community and hyperlocal news sector. Scottish Parliament Motion Motion S4M-00058 by Murdo Fraser 2011 That the Parliament congratulates the volunteers behind the award-winning community website, Lochgelly – Loch of Shining Waters. Motion supported by Jim Eadie, Mike MacKenzie, Stuart McMillan, Liz Smith, Humza Yousaf Fife Council Funding 2013-2014 Fife Council is the local authority for the Kingdom of Fife which has a range of initiatives to support community development throughout the kingdom. We received funding from Fife Council to pay for legal costs in setting up our organisation as Social Enterprise. SURF Award Most Improved Town 2016 Our work with various groups and individuals on the Lochgelly Going Forward committee helped win Lochgelly a SURF Award for the most improved town in Scotland. Social Partnerships and local campaigns We are dedicated to working towards the positive regeneration of Lochgelly and surrounding areas by developing our own projects, and working in partnership with other local community groups and individuals. The benefits of Social Partnership working including the development of new ideas and projects to the benefit of our local communities. Informal Working Group (2015-2016) Lochgelly Gala (2010 – 2016) Mossmorran Awareness (2010 – ongoing) Lochgelly Community Christmas Lights (2012 – ongoing) Little Raith Wind Farm (2012 – ongoing) Lochgelly Going Forward (2015 – ongoing) Community Magazine (2010) Lochgelly Heritage Group (2016) Lochgelly Community Development Forum (2010 – ongoing) Lochgelly Community Council (2016 – ongoing) The IWG has been engaging with planners at Fife Council to seek planning redress to issues of concern with wind farm development planning. The IWG consisted of Cllr Dave Dempsey (Chair), Cllr John Wincott and Cllr Kay Morrison with five local community representatives (Greg Brown and Stavros Michaelides from the Clatto Landscape Protection Group, James Glen from the Loch of Shining Waters, and Suzanne Turner and David Potts from SPOT, Jim Birrell Senior Manager-Planning, Alastair Hamilton Service Manager- Community Developments & Investment and Chris Smith Lead Officer. The remit of the IWG was to consider the current planning application assessment processes, with particular reference to visualisations and residential amenity considerations. It was also set against lesson learned from the Department of Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA) appeal decision letters and specific issues raised by the local representatives and other parties around visual and residential impact. The credibility and usefulness of submitted photomontages and the need to ensure a robust and logical assessment of the planning issues is set out in a transparent and easily understood format in officer reports were also key elements in this improvement process. We have provided a variety of support to the Lochgelly Community Development Forum for the Lochgelly gala from Graphic Design support, photography and video production, support from our own volunteers on the day (crowd safety, cleaning, manning stalls, etc.). All work has been delivered on a voluntary basis. We continue to monitor an report on the activities of Mossmorran Petrochemical Plant which includes documenting flaring events using stills and video media, utilising social media to raise awareness of impacts on local residents, make FOI requests to obtain safety records and other relevant data all of which is published into the public domain We have provided a variety of support to the Lochgelly Community Development Forum for the Lochgelly Christmas Lights from Graphic Design support, photography and video production, support from our own volunteers on the day (crowd safety, cleaning, manning stalls, etc.). All work has been delivered on a voluntary basis. We raise awareness of environmental impacts from the Little Raith Wind Farm and help support residents to halt plans for extension of the wind farm. Our work has also focussed on scrutiny of the 4 Winds Trust. Our investigations into the 4 Winds Trust discovered several breaches to charitable law by the trustees which was reported to OSCR the charity regulator who upheld all points of teh complaint. Since our work, the trustees are now publishing part of their data into the public domain to improve accountability and transparency. However issues still remain at the wind farm and within the 4 Winds Trust. Worked closely with residents, stakeholders, and local groups to form a steering committee tasked with public engagement to identify local priorities for action and develop a community action plan for the Lochgelly area. Our work for the group included a large online consultation, door-to-door consultation, graphic design support in producing posters and the final brochure, and the design and web hosting of a dedicated website for the project, available at: www.lochgellycap.org.uk In 2010 we produced a free community magazine with support from Scotland Unltd and Nominet Trust threough the BetterNet Award, whcih allowed us to test trial the feasibility of producing a local community based magazine. The magazine is available in digital format at: https://lochgelly.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/LoSW-web-mag-1.pdf Our volunteers have supported the Lochgelly Heritage Group with the provision of Graphic Design services delivered on a voluntary basis. The group had suffered a set-back after their original designer left the project for six storyboards incomplete. Our volunteers re-designed the six storyboards and provided the designs suitable for commercial printing to allow the group to continue with their work of creating a heritage trail with storyboards at key points on the route. We provide LCDF volunteers with IT support and donate web hosting and web design services for the group. Their website is available at www.lcdf.org.uk After a community councillor deliberately deleted the website for the Lochgelly Community Council, we stepped in and restored their website from an old archive we had available. We donated the website, web hosting and domain name, including web development time and offered training to support community councillors to maintain the site. For whatever reason, the work of our volunteers was refused. We now maintain the site providing it to residents as an extensive archive on the activities of the community council to help improve local accountability and transparency in the Lochgelly area. The website has over 130 documents that we have put into the public domain which is expanding on a daily basis. All the documents relate to the activities of the Lochgelly Community Council, such as Mossmorran representation, Lochore Meadows, and other local initiatives. All the documents were sourced from investigations conducted by our volunteers, Freedom of Information requests, Fife Council, Lochgelly Community Council, residents and other third parties. The website is available at www.lochgellycommunitycouncil.org.uk If you have any inquiries into any of our services, feedback or suggestions, please do not hesitate to Contact Us.
